“Massive” Newcastle city centre development celebrates latest milestone

Progress on a major city centre development was recognised on Friday by a Steel Beam Signing Ceremony, some 12 months on from the on-site ground-breaking ceremony at Pilgrim’s Quarter, Newcastle, back in June 2022.

HMRC announced in November 2021 that Newcastle’s Pilgrim’s Quarter, part of the Pilgrim Street development, would become a Government Hub for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the North East.

Part of the Government Hub network, HMRC’s “state-of-the-art” regional centre will be based at the new development. The regional centre will provide office accommodation for approximately 9,000 HMRC staff. The Newcastle building will be the largest of HMRC’s 14 regional centres, at 463,000square feet (43,000sq m).

Confirmation of their commitment moved a step closer yesterday at a steel beam signing ceremony on the site, attended by representatives from HMRC, Newcastle City Council, developer Reuben Brothers (Newcastle) Limited, Bowmer and Kirkland and the project development team.

Following a presentation of the scheme to senior HMRC stakeholders Marc Gill of HMRC and members of staff signed the steel beam, which will form part of this “massive” city centre redevelopment project.

Chris Turnbull, Avison Young who is project manager on the scheme, commented: “Considerable progress is now self-evident on site with steelwork erection proceeding at pace, following upon extensive demolition and site development works.

“The contractor, Bowmer and Kirkland has maintained the build programme whilst dealing with the diversion of a major sewer, extensive façade retention works on the listed Carliol House as well as piling works, adjacent to the Metro line tunnels.”

The building is scheduled to be handed over to HMRC for fit works in Q4 2025.

Marc Gill, HMRC’s senior sponsor for the North East, added: “It’s great to see the progress being made and today marks a significant milestone in our journey to our new HMRC Regional Centre.

“Once complete, Pilgrim’s Quarter will provide a great place to work - modern, welcoming and inclusive, a first-class, modern, digitally enabled workspace for HMRC’s largest office, right here in Newcastle.”

“HMRC is extremely proud of its history in the North East and we look forward to enabling HMRC to continue to provide thousands of high-quality rewarding Government careers in an iconic location in the heart of Newcastle City Centre.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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